Rufus Wainwright had a pretty great year. He released a lively new pop album, "Out of the Game," produced by Mark Ronson. The 39-year-old musician also married his longtime boyfriend, Jöorn Weisbrodt, with whom he has a 1-year-old daughter in a parenting partnership with Lorca Cohen, daughter of Leonard Cohen. Now he's bringing the annual Wainwright family holiday show to the West Coast for the first time, with guests Emmylou Harris, Maria Muldaur and Van Dyke Parks. Rufus and Martha Wainwright's "Christmas 101" is Wednesday at Oakland's Fox Theater. We spoke to him by phone during a tour stop in Germany.

Q:The tour you're on now ends with you singing a duet with a giant rubber sandwich.

A: It's a definite pop-rock extravaganza with a bizarre finale with lots of skin and backup singers.

Q:But that's not the show you're bringing to Oakland?

A: No. The show we're bringing to Oakland is festive as well, but more traditionally so. It's something we did for years in New York and London and Montreal. Around the Atlantic, it's considered a classic.

Q:Your mother, Kate McGarrigle, who died two years ago, started the tradition. Did you hesitate doing it without her?

A: We took a year off after she passed away, but then we brought it back, and it's really great. Now that Martha and I have children, Christmas has become a totally different thing. It's not about the eggnog anymore.

Q:What's it like having young kids in the Wainwright mix?

A: It's all a very new experience. My daughter lives with her mother full time. That's definitely one of the reasons I wanted to do the shows on the West Coast. If everybody is a performer in your family, why not get paid when you're all together?

Q: The last time we talked you said you were going to make one last attempt at a pop breakthrough and then bow out. Is that still the plan?

A: Well, I need to write another opera. I'd like to focus more on the theater in general and the movies and be in one place for a long time to spend more time with my daughter and husband. That being said, pop music is my bread and butter. There will be other albums and tours.

Q:Do you think you'll work with Mark Ronson again?

A: Yes. I'm looking forward to working with him again in the near future. He's just too handsome not to. {sbox}